/**
 * Copyright 2008 Matthew DeLambo
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */

package com.delambo.drool.interfaces;

/**
 * To increase pool node availabilty, a circular index will be maintained so any 
 * thread will start iterating through the pool at one circular index higher 
 * than the previous thread.
 * @author delambo
 */
public interface CircularIndexPointer {

    interface Factory {
        CircularIndexPointer create(int max);
    }
    
    /**
     * Increments the pointer in a circular fashion and returns the pointer value
     * before increment.
     * @return current pointer value.
     */
    public int getAndIncrement();
}
